FORT WORTH, Texas — Chase Elliott continued to show his early-season speed Sunday in Texas, two-stepping his way to victory lane with his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of 2026.
Elliott hasn’t won more than two races in a season since 2022, but he has led the way for Hendrick Motorsports so far this year. He is up to third in the point standings and has continued to show enough consistency to put him into championship contention as a potential top-three seed for the “Chase” — NASCAR’s 16-driver playoff — later this fall.
On a day when track position seemed to be significant, Elliott led more laps than anyone and was near flawless on the track while his team was equally so on pit road to maintain that crucial track position.
Elliott’s win snapped Toyota’s streak of three straight wins on non-drafting 1.5-mile tracks going back to September, when Elliott won at Kansas Speedway. In that race, Toyota dominated, but contact among the race-leading Toyotas in the final corners allowed a hard-charging Elliott to sneak through to snag the victory.
The win Sunday was both Elliott’s second of the season and second at Texas Motor Speedway.
“I have not been a huge fan of this place, and I’ve made that very obvious, but we continue to work hard,” Elliott said. “… We’ve not been where we wanted to be throughout portions of the season, but everybody’s just been digging in really hard — from the engine shop at Hendrick Motorsports to all the setup shops and everybody at Team Chevy.”
Similar to Kansas, another track of the same size, Denny Hamlin drove his Toyota to a second-place finish on Sunday. Alex Bowman finished third for the second consecutive week, with championship points leader Tyler Reddick and Texas native Chris Buescher completing the top five.
Kyle Busch intentionally wrecks John Hunter Nemechek
Kyle Busch ran in the top 10 for much of the day and had a shot to finish there in his first race with new crew chief Andy Street, but he threw his result away coming to the white flag.
Busch was trying to squeeze in front of John Hunter Nemechek for 12th place, but was not clear, and the contact between the two sent Busch into the wall.
The two then went down the track, and once they got side-by-side entering Turn 3, Busch door-slammed Nemechek hard enough to send him crashing.
Nemechek’s wreck did not bring out a caution, and he limped home to a 21st-place finish while Busch finished 20th.
Neither driver could be found for comment after the race, but Nemechek posted on X: “not freaking clear. great day going. and just got wrecked. what an a–.”
Kyle Busch later posted on X his own version of events, placing blame on Nemechek.
“I did not start this,” Busch wrote. “The 42 apparently doesn’t know where the RS (right side) of his car is and where he is in relation to the outside wall. There was 2 ft outside him and I was judging my left side tires to the hash marks. Always know who your racing beside.” — Jeff Gluck
Christopher Bell’s hard luck continues
Christopher Bell endured a frustrating two races before Texas; he was running in the top 10 on the final lap at each race only to end up wrecked, costing him a pair of solid finishes and valuable points.
With as strong as the Toyotas have been on intermediate tracks, Texas represented a good place to bounce back and put the frustration behind. And that appeared to be precisely what was unfolding early Sunday, with Bell leading 22 laps and giving the appearance he’d contend for the win.
Such optimism was short-lived with his hard luck again rearing its ugly head. Just as Bell and second-place Hamlin came upon the slower car of Todd Gilliland, Gilliland lost control and started to spin, clipping the rear of Bell’s car. The contact sent Bell hard into the wall, causing significant damage.
“It was another one of those 50-50 calls,” Bell said. “Me and Denny were side-by-side, and I saw (Gilliland) spinning and Denny lifted, and I thought that I could shoot the gap on the bottom. And I thought I did shoot the gap on the bottom — but I got clipped.”
Bell finished 38th, last, and he’s now 56 points above the cutoff to qualify for the Chase playoff. With over half the regular season remaining and holding nearly a full race of points as a buffer, there is no need to panic. Still, for a driver who came into the year considered a viable contender to win the regular-season points title, that possibility is looking less and less likely.
“We don’t need to do anything,” Bell said when asked about his luck turning around. “I’m really thankful to have fast cars to drive, thankful to be driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, and thankful I get another opportunity next week. It’s going to turn around at some point.” — Jordan Bianchi
Ryan Preece clashes with Ty Gibbs
Shortly before the end of Stage 1, a seemingly displeased Ryan Preece voiced his displeasure with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs, with the RFK Racing driver telling his team over the radio that he was going to send Gibbs a message at some point.
“When I get to that 54 (Gibbs’ car number), I’m done with him,” Preece said. “F—ing idiot. That car is so f—ing fast, pisses me off. Stupid. … I can’t stand when idiots like him have fast race cars where they can do stupid s— and get away with it. End of rant.”
Not too long later, after Preece’s self-described “rant,” his moment of retribution appeared to come as Gibbs suddenly crashed into the wall. Although replays were inconclusive on whether Preece actually made contact, Shane van Gisbergen offered his perspective of what transpired, pointing the finger at Preece as the culprit.
“Holy s—, (Preece) just committed a murder!” van Gisbergen radioed his team. “It looks like (Preece) just full-throttled (Gibbs)!”
Gibbs was evaluated and released from the infield care center. When asked by Fox Sports about the incident, Gibbs said he had yet to see a replay and didn’t know what happened. — Jordan Bianchi
